Perhaps one of the familiar structures in modern dwellings is that generally referred to as cabinets or the like. For example, in a typical kitchen environment, a substantial amount of storage is provided by a plurality of floor supported storage cabinets usually topped by a countertop or work surface. Often a plurality of additional cabinets are supported above the countertop work surface in a configuration generally conforming to the arrangement of floor supported cabinets. While the structures of such cabinets is subject to substantial design variation and aesthetic considerations, generally all utilize a partially recessed support base at the junction between the lower cabinets and the supporting floor. As a general convenience element, this recessed base portion permits the user to stand close to the countertop work surface while engaging in various kitchen tasks and allows the user's feet to be comfortably positioned upon the floor extending beneath the cabinets. It has been found through the years that this recessed base portion greatly enhances the comfort and avoids the difficulty associated with standing close to the cabinets and countertops which would otherwise arise without the use of such recessed portions.
While the recessed base structure of the typical kitchen cabinet or the like enhances user comfort, it often makes cleaning the floor surface difficult. This problem is particularly acute for those areas or portions of the cabinet arrangement which form corners at the cabinet junctions. In the most common of kitchen arrangements, at least one and sometimes several right angle intersections of cabinet portions are provided to maximize space. The resulting corner junction of the cabinets and floor portion in the corner vicinity along the baseboards forms a difficult to reach and often hard to clean area.
A similar problem may arise in other cabinet structures such as those found in office work stations or other commercial environments which utilize floor supported storage cabinets or the like. In addition, in certain environments, other cabinet intersections with supporting surfaces such as countertops or worktops may provide similar difficult to clean corner portions.
In many commercial applications, as well as some kitchen environments, the problem is addressed by generally avoiding sharp angled corner cabinet intersections by using corner angled cabinet elements. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,028,098 issued to Fedder, et al. sets forth a MODULAR COUNTER WORK STATION FOR TELLERS in which a generally U-shaped work station is formed by a plurality of floor supported cabinet elements. A countertop having a similar U-shape is supported upon the cabinets. The corner portions of the cabinets and countertop include angled facets which define sufficient area to support the teller apparatus for the work station.
While some flexibility may be utilized to avoid sharp angled or right angled corner intersections in work environments such as kitchen cabinet structures or the like, there remains a continuing need in the art for providing an easier to clean structure for such areas without sacrificing the efficiency of such cabinet arrangements.